The minivan sales drop is unaccountable

Chrysler will idle the American minivan plant at St. Louis - “indefinitely” - starting October 31, because of falling sales. The Town & Country has fallen by 13% and the Grand Caravan by 35% in US sales - never mind that the Caravan is reportedly beating last year’s long-wheelbase sales, since it’s actual volume that keeps plants open, not carefully chosen comparisons. (Last year’s short wheelbase vans are also compared with Dodge Journey sales.)

First, let me say that the new Chrysler leaders had nothing to do with the dropping of the four cylinder, short wheelbase minivans, which would probably be flying off the shelves right now if they were available; nor were they responsible for frittering away development funds on some ideas which looked really cool to me, until, and let’s be honest here, I actually tried them out and decided they were cool, but not something I’d pay for.

But even with your choice of an engine as long as it has six cylinders, the long wheelbase as standard, and the weight of a vehicle which needs to achieve five star safety ratings while keeping the interior as quiet as possible, the minivan remains a very efficient vehicle for its size. Yes, it’s rated at 17 city, 24 highway - but you know, that’s not too bad. Sure, it could be better, but that would mean giving up a little acceleration and some more money, or perhaps some of features and creature comforts.

Still, it would do a heart good to see a diesel minivan right about now, and a four cylinder short-wheelbase mini with no frills aside from Stow ‘n’ Go. Maybe even with the Plymouth nameplate.

You could say this is another DaimlerChrysler parting gift. They chose to make the Dodge absolutely spartan in interior appearance, without price breaks. They chose to make the Chrysler more upscale in appearance without making it exclusive - since at similar prices, how many would choose the plain-jane Dodge? And of course as the single largest maker of minivans, even now, why would they press their volume advantage to make more minivan versions, when they could give us fewer options? There’s no AWD to compete with the “no sliding door” minivans from Ford and Chevy; there’s no lightweight version for gas mileage; there’s no electric version (as we had in some years past); and there is no diesel as they sell in Europe. There’s also no hybrid, though that would be handy.

Chrysler without its minivans. The idea seems crazy - but then, there was a time when Chrysler dominated the taxi and police car businesses; when they were the premier boat builder; when their rockets powered NASA into space; and when they dominated vans, too.

The good news is that while Chrysler may be losing minivans, and autoworkers may be losing their jobs (many permanently), there does seem to be a future, with small cars finally being engineered (again — they had plans when acquired by Daimler, but Daimler wanted small cars to be handled by Mitsubishi and/or Hyundai and/or Smart), and the bread and butter “family car” segment being re-engineered from the ground up. It’s just hard, sometimes, to see that bright future when there are so many storm clouds today.